Mexican Consul General Claudia Franco Hijuelos tells Vancouver media on Fri., Jan. 31, 2014 that she wants answers from the Canada Border Services Agency about the suicide death of Mexican national Lucia Vega Jimenez Dec. 20, 2013 at the Vancouver International Airport.

Photograph by: Jason Payne
, PNG

The Mexican consulate did everything possible to help suicide victim Lucia Vega Jimenez and wants answers about how the Mexican woman was treated before her death, the Mexican consul-general said Friday.

"We are angered by what happened and we expect answers from the authorities that have jurisdiction in this case," Claudia Franco Hijuelos said Friday at a news conference.

"We were by her side from the beginning attending to her requests and, of course, offering help. We do not know what were the personal motivations of her to commit such a terrible, difficult act and we can only feel for her and her family in this circumstance."

She had no family with her, no close friends and worked illegally as a hotel cleaner, sending all her earnings to support her ailing mother in Mexico.

In the week before her suicide, the 42-year-old Vancouver woman was despondent after her savings were stolen while she was in custody.

The CBSA's regional director general said Friday allegations that the agency attempted to conceal information are "false.

"The CBSA alerted first responders and the RCMP immediately, and notified other independent organizations including the Consulate in Vancouver, as per our standard procedures," Roslyn MacVicar said in a news release.

Hijuelos said the consulate had contact with Vega Jimenez after she was taken into custody for having an unpaid transit ticket and ensured that she had legal counsel.

She said the consulate learned of her arrest two or three days after Vega Jimenez was taken into custody.

"We provided the services she requested. We offered other services she did not accept. She seemed to be accepting the situation.

"It came to us as a surprise that she attempted suicide and we learned this from the Canadian authorities. It was a very timely notification that we received and in that same vein we expect the independent investigation to be carried out as fully and swiftly as possible so we might know what were the facts surrounding the attempted suicide and her death.

"There was personal contact on several occasions (with Jimenez) and there was telephone contact also."

Some lawyers say the installation of a 24/7 immigration lawyer hotline — which would automatically put the detainee in touch with a lawyer — could help prevent such deaths in custody.

Such a lawyers' hotline isn't going to lead to any change in the status of those incarcerated, since CBSA has the right to remove them at that point without referral to courts, according to veteran Vancouver immigration lawyer Lawrence Wong.

But Wong said the ability to talk to lawyers can help calm down people in that situation, assuring them they are being treated according to the law.

Wong, who has visited clients at the YVR holding cells, said the CBSA's operation of the cell presents a potential violation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

When lawyers call the detention centre the person answering the phone is an employee of Genesis, the private security company contracted by the CBSA, according to Wong.

He said all staff members in the detention area in the basement are Genesis employees, whereas CBSA staff work at a different section upstairs at the airport.

"This raises a charter issue, which is letting private contractors handle a person's liberty and security matters. Genesis guards will be responsible for locking and unlocking the cell doors, body search and monitor safety issues and ordering and supplying food and water, etc.," Wong wrote in an email.

"There may be CBSA supervision in the broadest sense of the word, but not on site, and certainly (not) when I saw my clients. No CBSA officers would be manning the holding cells."

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Mexican Consul General Claudia Franco Hijuelos tells Vancouver media on Fri., Jan. 31, 2014 that she wants answers from the Canada Border Services Agency about the suicide death of Mexican national Lucia Vega Jimenez Dec. 20, 2013 at the Vancouver International Airport.

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